Mom leaves nasty Yelp review after child fails driving test

Dear John: I am having an issue with a Yelp review that was left about me. I work at the California Department of Motor Vehicles. I give driving tests.

An upset mother posted a scathing review of me for failing her child on their road test. The post did not follow Yelp’s content guidelines, so I reported it and it was removed from the website.

Then that user re-posted the same review. I reported it once again, but now Yelp is refusing to remove the review. It is also refusing to explain why the review was removed the first time but not this time.

The same person that referred me to you suggested I inform the Better Business Bureau. I did and Yelp is still refusing to give an explanation. I am not sure what to do.

I am hoping you will be able to assist me in getting this review removed. Thank you for your time. E.K.

Dear E.K.: Sorry, but Yelp says the “scathing review” didn’t violate its terms of use either the first time it was posted or the second time.

Yelp said its “No. 1 priority has always been to connect consumers with great local businesses by giving them access to useful and reliable information.”

“In this specific instance, an employee of a business flagged a review from a user, and our User Support team carefully looked at the content and determined that it was not in violation of our guidelines or terms or service,” Yelp said. “Our team also determined that the original reviews posted by the user about the business, that were initially erroneously removed, were also not in violation.”

Yelp has rules against inappropriate content, conflicts of interest, promotional material, asking for money and a few other things. Criticism is what this site is all about.

So that’s two strikes against you.

I’d respond in the following manner on Yelp.

“This person’s child is a lousy driver. And all California motorists should be grateful that I didn’t allow him/her to pass the driving test. The world is safer because of my actions.

“And if another lousy driver tries to pass his/her test, I will fail them also, no matter how much their mother complains. Motorists can thank me later.”

So you’d get to be known as the hard-ass driving-test person. You’ll become a legend and people will write songs about you.